Hiroshi Kawaguchi

I graduated from the University of Tokyo, and began my career as an orthopaedic surgeon in 1985. I began as a researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Lawrence Raisz at the University of Connecticut in 1991. There I decided my lifeâs work would be on âdisease scienceâ, i.e. preclinical translational research leading directly to the treatment of skeletal disorders: osteoporosis, bone fracture, periprosthetic osteolysis, ossification of spinal ligaments, and osteoarthritis. Since then, I have had a career as a âsurgeon scientistâ in both laboratory and clinical aspects of these disorders, publishing 284 peer-reviewed original articles (total impact factor: 1,433) in prestigious scientific journals such as Nat Med, Nat Mater, Nature, Science, JCI, Gene Dev, JCB, PNAS, Dev Cell, JBC, and JBMR. Importantly, some of these reported efforts have already led to clinical use, for example, a recombinant agent for fracture healing and a novel artificial joint with longevity.
I have received the 2009 Kappa Delta Award, the 2006 Frank Stinchfield Award of the Hip Society, the 2006 Basic Science Award of OARSI, and the 2011 Lawrence Raisz Award of ASBMR. I have also devoted myself to the education of young researchers. In fact, members of my group have been awarded the ASBMR Young Investigator Award each of the l7 years since l998.